Magnificent world premiere for the Electro-Voice N8000-1500

November 15th, 2008

Dutch superstar Jan Smit is not afraid to set new standards. That was made clear once again at his first three shows (October 30-November 2) in Rotterdam’s Ahoy arena. In order to guarantee superlative sound quality in the 10,000-seat hall, a venue normally viewed with apprehension by sound engineers, rental company Triple Show Techniek opted for a groundbreaking Electro-Voice configuration. In addition to EV X-Line and EV XLC enclosures (some 96 in all), this involved the first use anywhere in the world of the new loudspeaker controller EV N8000-1500 with FIR Drive.

The N8000-1500 is a further development of the N8000. Capable of 1500 MIPS, the new controller has twice the processing power of its predecessor. In fact, the N8000-1500 is currently the most powerful loudspeaker controller on the market. It made it possible for the sound crew led by Marc Pardon (FOH Engineer) and Gert Wiersema (System Technician) to run the complete rig-including delays-with EV Netmax and FIR Drive (Finite Impulse Response Filters); the devices were controlled via IRIS-Net. In the PC-based line-array controller GUI (Graphical User Interface), Gert Wiersema had at his disposal a tool that offered all the technical options one could wish for, whilst at the same time being simple to use. “We’ve been working with Electro-Voice now for a very long time in concert sound,“ affirms Wiersema, “but the new EV N8000-1500 with its FIR Drive presets actually takes audio to a completely new level. It delivers unbelievable power and the system remains in balance even at the highest sound pressure levels.“

Axel Nagtegaal, who heads up E-audio benelux, holds the same opinion. After the three Ahoy shows, he commented: “The N8000-1500 with FIR Drive from Electro-Voice is inaugurating a whole new era in concert sound. That is precisely what we set out to prove on the Jan Smit tour-and we succeeded. The massive compliments we received from numerous colleagues and experts for the Ahoy shows are something of which I am incredibly proud.“

Triple Show Techniek counted on the support of EV partner E-audio benelux and Electro-Voice USA for this tailor-made setup-something for which Triple Show Techniek MD Rene Tielen was extremely thankful: “When you are on tour with the biggest star in the Netherlands, you cannot afford to make bad decisions,“ he says. “On this tour, we wanted to give fans the ultimate sound experience, and thanks to the support of E-audio benelux and Electro-Voice USA, we were able to do just that.“